


The First and Last Times

by SixtySevenChevy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, fluff and then angst, mentions of samjess, through the ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 19:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/765203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SixtySevenChevy/pseuds/SixtySevenChevy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Gabriel meets Sam Winchester, Sam is six.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First and Last Times

The first time he meets Sam Winchester, Gabriel has just run away and is flitting through time, just coasting, riding out the wave that would take him further from home. Who needs those winged jerks? Not Gabriel, no sir. So he’s off to see what the future holds.

Sam is six, when they first meet. In fact, he’s the first human Gabriel has come into contact with in over a thousand years. So you can imagine Gabriel’s fear—though he’ll never, ever admit to it—when faced with a small, crying child.

The first place Gabriel goes when he leaves home is Kentucky, for reasons no one can say, and he lands smack-dab in the middle of a crappy motel, in the room the Winchesters happened to be living in. Only little Sammy is home when Gabriel lands, ever so elegantly, on his face by the door.

Gabriel picks himself up, dusts off his vessel—a new experience, one he wasn’t sure how he felt about yet—and shakes his head. The room is tiny, but it has come a long way since the last time he was on Earth. There’s indoor plumbing, for one. Father used to talk about it constantly, one of His favorite of the humans’ inventions. He never shut up about the humans.

There’s a human in the room with Gabriel, and he’s startled to see such a small one. Last time he saw a person, her name was Mary, and she was much bigger than the little one huddled against the closed bathroom door. 

The boy—and of course Gabriel knows it’s a boy, he’s not a _complete_ dumbass—sniffles and presses himself against the door, clutching at a pillow. He’s alone in the room. Gabriel can’t blame him for being scared.

“Hello,” he says, after some amount of contemplation. How do vocal chords work? Which language should he use? _What is happening?_

“Hi,” the human whispers. 

“I am Gabriel, Angel of the Lord,” Gabriel says. He wants to scold himself for being so idiotic. He’s not an angel, not anymore. If he gets his way, he won’t be for a long time. He draws himself up anyway, aware of his vessel’s small stature, and tries to look intimidating. Humans are unpredictable. Who knows what a cornered one will do?

“Sam,” the human says.

“Hello, Sam,” Gabriel says, and he’s going to say more, but he can’t. There’s another angel close by, he can feel it, and he needs to leave. Gabriel tilts his head to the side and listens, trying to pinpoint his brother’s position. The brother is nearly upon him.

“Goodbye, Sam,” Gabriel says, and jumps into the past.

XXXXX

The second time Gabriel meets Sam Winchester, Sam is eleven. Gabriel has been living in Scandinavia for the past hundred years or so, and feels the need for a vacation. So, like the Trickster God he has become, he heads off to do some mischief.

He still hasn’t perfected the art of time-travelling, and as such ends up ten years before he wants to. He lands on his feet this time, though, a feat he is immensely proud of. So, it’s kind of a mixed result.

There’s a human boy sitting at the table. Gabriel stares at him and the boy stares back. They continue to do so for several seconds, hazel eyes meeting brown, unblinking and steady. Gabriel feels a bit like a deer facing down a hunter with a bow.

And then the boy pulls a shotgun from underneath the table.

Gabriel takes a step forward, utterly shocked. In all his years as Loki, no one has dared to stand against him. He’s all-powerful, a god, and no one wants to anger a god, especially one as vengeful as Loki. So you can understand if Gabriel is a bit taken aback.

The boy aims the gun, with way more practice and ease than a child ought to have. “Who are you?” he asks, voice still high-pitched and boyish. 

“Loki, god of mischief,” Gabriel answers without thinking.

The boy cocks his gun. “Sam,” the boy says, and Gabriel is struck with the realization that he’s seen this boy before. He’s going to say something about it, but he’s too busy being shot.

Gabriel leaps back into the past before things get out of hand.

XXXXX

The third time Gabriel meets Sam Winchester, Sam is twenty-two. He’s been jumping through time for a while now, and Gabriel is getting better at landing where he wants to. So when a stray demon gets drunk and blabs about the great Sam Winchester being on Earth at last, Gabriel has to see this for himself.

He lands without even a stumble, right in the middle of a kitchen. Gabriel looks around appraisingly, studying the decorating. The homey touches certainly don’t _seem_ reminiscent of Satan’s vessel on Earth. Maybe he has the wrong house.

He’s just about to get going when a woman walks in. She’s pretty, tall, blond, and most definitely not Sam Winchester. He stares at her for a few seconds, taking her in. She’s gorgeous.

But so is the man who walks in behind her.

He’s tall, and has flowing brown hair, and the deepest eyes Gabriel has ever seen. He’s laughing, and when he laughs his eyes crinkle at the corners, and Gabriel is left feeling very, very confused. Sure, men are sexy, always have been, but this one takes the cake.

“Um, hi,” Gabriel announces. “I’m looking for my cousin, Sam,” he says, because it’s not exactly a lie. Technically, Sam is destined to be his brother, and since he’s not quite Lucifer yet, cousin is close enough. Or at least that’s what Gabriel tells himself.

“I’m Sam,” says the man, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

Gabriel swallows hard. He’s really screwing this one up. “Hi, I’m Gabe. Your cousin. From Maine.”

Sam nods, and Gabriel feels his knees go a little rubbery with relief. He wants to thank Sam for playing along. “So,” Sam says. “Family business?”

Gabriel nods, although he doesn’t really know what that means. “Yeah,” he says redundantly.

“Um, Jess, could you excuse us? Family business stuff, it’ll only take a minute,” Sam says, looking at the girl with eyes that are full of half-adoration, half-pleading. Gabriel nods vigorously. Anything to be alone with Sam Winchester for a few seconds. Back in Heaven, Sam Winchester is a household name. Meeting Sam Winchester is like meeting Elvis, or the Beatles, or Freddie Mercury. 

Jess nods and goes, waving at Sam as she does so. Gabriel sighs, but the relief doesn’t last. Sam is in his personal space in seconds. “Who are you?”

“Gabe,” Gabriel says weakly, staring up at the giant man looming over him.

“What do you want? Did Dean send you? Did Dad?”

“No…”

“What do you want from me? I got out. I don’t hunt anymore.”

“You were a hunter?” Gabriel demands, voice coming out much shriller than intended. This is an entirely new development. 

_“Was,”_ Sam emphasizes, backing off a bit. 

Gabriel forces a laugh, and takes a step away. Sam crosses his arms across his chest, frowning deeply. “I didn’t know,” Gabriel says dumbly. Sam nods once and points to the door. Gabriel leaves without another word. Wouldn’t want to piss of Lucy’s soon-to-be bunkmate. 

Outside, a black car is pulling up to the curb, Metallica thumping from the speakers.

XXXXX

Gabriel meets Sam a few more times after that, but it’s not until he’s been killing Dean for about a year that he realizes. The little boy who shot him way back when he was still exclusively Loki was Sam Winchester. He has a good long laugh about it when it hits him, and crashes a jet into the Winchester boy’s motel. He’s really starting to get tired of that song.

XXXXX

Gabriel knows he’s lost when he sees Sam try to save those people in that hotel. Of course, he always knew he had a soft spot for the youngest Winchester, but it doesn’t smack him in the face until Lucifer is there, bearing down on them, and suddenly he regrets it all.

But it’s far too late now.

XXXXX

The last time Gabriel sees Sam Winchester, it’s a calm night, quiet, full of nothing but the sound of crickets chirping and the occasional trill of a night bird. He’s sitting in a field, watching as two boys shoot off fireworks, laughing when the older one steps on a spark and has to take his boot off and pour water on it to get the flames out.

He doesn’t hear the popping and crackling of the fireworks because he doesn’t want to. He just wants to sit and watch, and grin until his face hurts because of how happy that little boy is. Everything seems right, in that moment.

Of course, it seems even more right when there’s a small crack behind him, and he hears loud cursing. Gabriel laughs and turns around, watching a very tall man pick himself up off the ground. Sam dusts off his jacket and shakes his head. Gabriel smiles softly.

This is the first angel Sam has come into contact with in a few decades, so you can imagine his confusion upon being met with a short, crying one.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry.


End file.
